HOW TO FIGHT INSTAGRAM LED DEPRESSION...
I spent chunks of 2018 visiting loved ones in hospital.
Walking through those wards, I discovered an idea called the "CONTRAST DIAL".
This explains the negative effects social media has, but also how to REVERSE it.
THREAD...

2. Charlie Munger's favorite contrast experiment involves three buckets of water.
Bucket A = Ice cold.
Bucket B = Near boiling.
Bucket C = Lukewarm.
For 2 mins, participants put one hand in Bucket A and their other hand in Bucket B.
They then put both hands in bucket C.

Despite both hands now being in the same temperature water, one hand feels the lukewarm water as boiling and the other feels it as freezing.
How can your hands perceive the same water as having completely different temperatures?
CONTRAST.

3. The contrast dial is one of the oldest sales techniques.
Real estate hustlers take viewers to crap & overpriced houses first.
Before finally taking them to an average and slightly overpriced house.
The viewers contrast the average house with all the crap ones and buy it

4. Marketers - be careful what you compare your product to.
@rorysutherland believes that video conferencing never took off partially due to ineffective contrasting.
They marketed it as a "cheap alternative to physical travel" instead of "the rich man's phone call".

5. In 1993, CEO's were paid on average 131x more than the average worker.
Regulators decided to make CEO's wages public to reduce the gap.
The opposite happened.
CEO pay is now 369x the average worker.
Why?
CEO's began CONTRASTING their pay with colleagues.
@danariely

6. @danielgross discussed with @eriktorenberg that people may make decisions such as quitting their job based on contrast.
Overhear how much a friend makes at a party and become unhappy. Or, return from a holiday and contrast work's mundane moments with the vacations highlights.

7. The tragedy of modern life is that we can simultaneously:
A. Live in the greatest time ever to be alive
B. Not have the memories of our ancestors to appreciate how fucking good we have it.
I call this Zelzheimer's
(Zeitgeist + Alzheimers)

10. The inverse contrast of an Instagram newsfeed is walking through hospital wards.
Instead of scrolling through artificial lives designed to make you feel envious, you stroll past real people in pain who would give everything to trade places with you.

11. One of the best happiness hacks I have discovered is to simply recover from being ill.
Getting out of bed is a luxury good for the next few days.
"Nothing like a health problem to turn up the contrast dial on the rest of life" - @naval

12. I suspect as society gets richer - comfortable experiences will become less popular and people will start paying for uncomfortable experiences.
"The richer a society, the more it needs fasting holidays and the less it needs feasting ones." - @mmay3r

14. With contrasting, the map is not the terrain (@farnamstreet)
The more real the experience, the better.
Fasting > Gratitude journal
War documentaries > Gratitude journal
Becoming friends with people who work real jobs > Gratitude journal

15. One of my fave people to hang out with works a REAL job.
I once asked him - "How's work?"
He responded:
"I'm not bothered about getting stabbed or shot. It's getting acid thrown in my face that keeps me up at night"
All my work problems faded away by contrast...

16. If you're looking for somebody to contrast your problems against.
Consider Alistair Urquhart (@jockowillink)
- Prisoner of war during WW2 at 22 years old.
- Sent to work on the "Death Railway" by the Japanese. (10,000 prisoners died of cholera, malnutrition, and torture)

- He was then transported on the "Hell Ship". (Every prisoner aboard fought for themselves with most resorting to cannibalism)
- The ship was sunk by a US torpedo. Alistair floated on a single man raft for FIVE days WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER before being found by Japanese soilders.

- He was then sent to work on the coal mines 10 miles from Nagasaki and was there when the ATOMIC BOMB went off.
^^^
I recently caught myself getting stressed because I was late for a massage.
The thought of Alistair came to my mind, and I felt deeply ashamed by contrast.